As Indian Springs residents convert the former golf course that anchored the neighborhood into a green space, details are being finalized for a proposed hotel to be built at what was once the first hole at Indian Springs Golf Course.

Bill Bardenwerper, who represents the owner of Indian Springs Golf Course — who retains about several acres of the closed course that hotel developers are eyeing — said the hotel proposed for the southeast corner of Westport Road and Indian Lake Drive will be one of Starwood Hotels and Resorts' brands.

Although he declined to disclose which specific brand will be moving in, Starwood Hotels and Resorts owns chains such as Sheraton, Aloft and Le Meridien.

The hotel — which Bardenwerper described as a "high-end" five-story building with integrated restaurant — is being developed by a group led by Lexington-based developer Pat Madden, whose portfolio includes Hamburg Place in Lexington and the Kohl's complex on Bardstown Road.

During an Indian Springs Community Association meeting last month, the hotel developer sought to purchase land from the community's green space, the proceeds of which would go toward further enhancement of the public space, according to a letter from the homeowners' association's board of directors.

Association President Brent Nash did not respond to email and phone requests for additional information.

According to meeting minutes available on the Indian Springs Community Association website, lawn care for the new green space will cost a projected $4,000 a month. Volunteers will help mow the former fairways, and a lawn service will mow the rest of the green space.

Owners of the Indian Springs Golf Club introduced plans to build a 17,800-square-foot Aldi on what was then the club's parking lot in 2011, as a way of saving the course, which had been losing about $400,000 a year.

Construction continues on the Aldi supermarket and southwest corner of Westport Road and Indian Lake Drive, as well as on the McDonald's restaurant just west of the grocery store.

A spokeswoman for Aldi Inc. did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Indian Springs residents — many of whom feared development of the land would decrease property values — opposed rezoning plans in court, filing a lawsuit against Metro Council, the Louisville Metro Planning Commission, Aldi and owners of the golf course.

Last May, developers offered Indian Springs residents ownership of the golf course in exchange for dropping opposition to development of the commercial sites.

Elaine Wood, former Indian Springs Community Association president, said earlier this year that homeowners made the decision to convert the golf course into a green space.

"We would've loved to have kept it as a golf course," she said. "That was our original intention, but it just isn't financially viable."

Creating a green space was a way to preserve the value of the land, Wood said.

"There's lot of excitement now about taking stewardship of our land," she said.

Reporter Kirsten Clark can be reached at (502) 582-4144 or on Twitter by following @kirstenlmclark.